FRESNO – According to the San Joaquin Valley Air Board, it was an orange flag day in Fresno County last Thursday, Sept. 29. But as members of a girls' water polo team entered a Clovis, Calif., pool that afternoon, they knew the air pollution was much worse -- "in the purple" as one young athlete later told her mother. So when one of their teammates was stricken with an asthma attack halfway through the match, it came as little surprise. Despite the obvious risks, the game continued.

The official close of summer last week brought to an end the smoggiest summer season in five years for San Joaquin Valley residents, according to the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition. Based on data from the valley air board website, the summer season beginning on June 21 and ending Sept. 23 shows an alarming trend of increasing numbers of unhealthy air days valley-wide, and pollution levels in hotspots such as Clovis in Fresno County, Three Rivers in Tulare County and Maricopa in Kern County have led to steep increases in the number of unhealthy air days.

Thousands of lives lost, damaged due to long history of delay

The Central Valley Air Quality Coalition is critical of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District’s misplaced message of celebration contained in its Sept. 1, 2011 media release, Valley Sets Clean-Air Record.

"The only clean air record earned by our air district is for delay," said Kevin Hall, Director of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, Fresno. "Where do we go to celebrate in 1999?" That’s the first year when an entire year, not a single month, was required under the federal Clean Air Act of 1990 to show no violations of the older, weaker standard tied one-hour ozone levels. "We missed that deadline 12 years ago."

Who
We Are

About the Organization

Founded in 2003, the Fresno-based Central Valley Air Quality Coalition (CVAQ) is a partnership of more than 70 community, medical, public health, environmental and environmental justice organizations representing thousands of residents in the San Joaquin Valley unified in their commitment to improve the health of all Californians.

Download a file explaining what the
Central Valley Air Quality Coalition is.

PDF Download (300Kb)

High-Resolution
Logo

Download the logo in a high-resolution format for use in your news reports.